"United Bretheren" from holding any religious assemblies, public or private; commanded that their meetinghouses should all be shut up; that they should not be allowed either to preach or print; and that within a given time they should all hold religious communion with either the Calixtines or the Catholics.

Although the Catholic party had so far succeeded as to obtain this persecuting edict, they did not immediately reap from it all the happy fruits that they expected. The Bohemians were a bold and intrepid race of men, and not easily daunted. The king, and wiser part of the magistrates, did not go heartily into the clerical measures of depopulation and destruction; and though the dominant party were so strong that the king durst not openly protect the Brethren, he was obliged to wink at the cruel use that was made of this persecuting statute by some bigotted magistrates; but, upon the whole, the pacific inclination of the court was generally understood, and people acted accordingly. Some emigrated; others retired and worshipped God as formerly, in remote places and in small companies; some ran all risks, and many fell into the hands of their enemies and were punished. A Bohemian nobleman caught six poor men at their devotions, in a small village; he accordingly had them taken up and brought before the parish-priest to be examined. The latter asked but one question, namely, whether they would submit to him as a shepherd of souls? they answered to this, that "Christ was the shepherd of their souls"-upon which they were convicted on the statute against heresy, made in the twentieth year of their sovereign lord the king, and instantly committed to the flames. This is a fair specimen of their proceedings, and it is needless to enlarge or multiply instances.

In this manner the affairs of the Brethren proceeded, until Luther began the reformation in Germany; at which

time it would appear, that a continued series of persecutions had wasted the churches, and nearly exhausted the survivors of their fortitude and patience; insomuch that the Brethren appear to have been meditating a compromise with the Catholic church, under certain modifications; and actually wrote to Luther for his advice on the subject, in the year 1522. Sleidan has furnished us with the substance of the letter which Luther returned in reply, and it is of sufficient interest to merit insertion.

He informs them that the name of Bohemians had been some time very odious unto him, so long as he had been ignorant that the pope was antichrist: but that now, since God had restored the light of the gospel to the world, he was of a far different opinion, and had declared as much in his books; so that at present the pope and his party were more incensed against him than against them; that his adversaries had many times given it out that he had removed into Bohemia, which he oftentimes wished to have done; but that lest they should have aspersed his progress, and called it a flight, he had altered his resolution. That, as matters now stood, there were great hopes that the Germans and Bohemians might profess the doctrine of the gospel, and the same religion; that it was not without reason that many were grieved to see them so divided into sects among themselves; but that if they should again make defection to popery, sects would not only not be removed, but even be increased and more diffused, for that sects abounded no where more than among the Romanists; and that the Franciscans alone were an instance of this, who in many things differed among themselves, and yet all lived under the patronage and protection of the church of Rome. That his kingdom was, in some manner, maintained and supported by the dissensions of men; which was the reason also that made him set princes together by the ears, and

afford continual matter of quarrelling and contention; that, therefore, they should have special care, lest whilst they endeavour to crush those smaller sects, they fell not into far greater, such as the popish, which were altogether incurable, and from which Germany had been lately delivered. That there was no better way of removing inconveniencies, than for the pastors of the churches to preach the pure word of God in sincerity. That if they could not retain the weak and giddy people in their duty, and hinder their desertion, they should at least endeavour to make them steadfast in receiving the Lord's Supper in both kinds, and in preserving a veneration for the memory of John Huss and Jerome of Prague; for that the pope would labour chiefly to deprive them of these two things; wherefore if any of them should relent, and give up both to the tyrant, it would be ill done of them. But that though all Bohemia should apostatize, yet he would celebrate and commend the doctrine of Huss to all posterity. That, therefore, he prayed and exhorted them to persevere in that way which they had hitherto defended with the loss of much blood, and with the highest resolution, and not cast a reproach upon the flourishing gospel by their defection. That although all things were not established among them, as they ought to be, yet God would not be wanting, in time, to raise up some faithful servants of his, who would reform what was amiss, provided they continued constant, and utterly rejected the uncleanness and impiety of the Romish papacy.*

Mr. Robinson thus recapitulates the history of the Bohemian brethren.

"Authentic records in France assure us, that a people of a certain description were driven from thence in the twelfth century. Bohemian records of equal authenticity inform us, that some of the same description arrived in

Sleidan's History of the Reformation, p. 53.

Bohemia at the same time, and settled near a hundred miles from Prague, at Saltz and Laun, on the river Eger, just on the borders of the kingdom. Almost two hundred years after, another undoubted record of the same country mentions a people of the same description, some as burnt at Prague, and others as inhabiting the borders of the kingdom; and a hundred and fifty years after that, we find a people of the same description settled by connivance in the metropolis, and in several other parts of the kingdom. About one hundred and twenty years lower, we find a people in the same country living under the protection of law on the estate of Prince Lichtenstein exactly like all the former, and about thirty or forty thousand in number. The religious character of this people is so very different from that of all others, that the likeness is not easily mistaken. They had no priests, but taught one another. They had no private property, for they held all things jointly. They executed no offices, and neither exacted nor took oaths. They bore no arms, and rather chose to suffer than resist wrong. They held every thing called religion in the church of Rome in abhorrence, and worshipped God only by adoring his perfections, and endeavouring to imitate his goodness. They thought christianity wanted no comment; and they professed the belief of that by being baptized, and their love to Christ and one another by receiving the Lord's Supper. They aspired at neither wealth nor power, and their plan was industry. We are shewn how highly probable it is that Bohemia afforded them work, wages, and a secure asylum, which were all they wanted. If these be facts, they are facts that do honour to human nature; they exhibit in the great picture of the world a few small figures in a back ground, unstained with the blood, and unruffled with the disputes of their fellow creatures."*

* Ecelesiastical Researches, p. 527.

225

CHAPTER VI.

THE HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES CONTINUED FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FOURTEENTH TO THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.

SECTION I.

The history of the Waldenses, from the middle of the fourteenth, to the end of the fifteenth century. A. D. 1350-1500.

IT has been pertinently remarked by a late writer, that in reading the history of every country, there are certain periods at which the mind naturally pauses, to meditate upon and consider them, with reference, not only to their immediate effects, but to their more remote consequences. This remark is as applicable to the history of the christian church, as it is to that of any particular country. I have endeavoured to conduct the reader through the mazes and labyrinths of that history, during a period of nearly fourteen hundred years, in which time we have traversed a dreary wilderness, through a dark and benighted season, until we are at length brought to approach the confines of light-the morning of the Reformation. In entering upon the last chapter of this book, it may be no unprofitable employ, therefore, for us to pause and take a review of the existing state of Europe, at this interesting period, in reference to the

• Fox's History of James II.—Introduction, p. 5.